Until recently opportunities for systemic treatment in metastatic renal cell carcinoma were limited to administration of cytokines and clinical research investigating novel medications. Various combinations and doses of interleukin-2 (IL-2) and interferon-alpha (IFN) have been investigated in randomized studies in metastatic renal cell carcinoma. Immunotherapy was found to have only limited efficacy (overall response rate 15-16%, survival of 12 months). Therefore target medicines, specifically - tyrosine kinase inhibitors and mTOR inhibitors, are under development as first and subsequent lines of treatment.